{"id":135402,"date":"2026-01-16T00:58:50","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T00:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/135402\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T00:58:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T00:58:50","slug":"what-we-know-about-the-giants-plans-for-all-of-their-young-shortstops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/135402\/","title":{"rendered":"What we know about the Giants\u2019 plans for all of their young shortstops"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section 415 email newsletter here<\/a> and subscribe to the \u201cSection 415\u201d podcast wherever you listen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Shortstops are often the most athletic players on the diamond, from youth teams all the way to the major leagues. They\u2019re the captains of the infield. Usually team leaders. In the middle of the action. With strong arms. There\u2019s a lot to like about shortstops.<\/p>\n

The Giants have plenty of good ones.<\/p>\n

They added another gem to their system when 17-year-old Venezuelan Luis Hern\u00e1ndez signed Thursday, MLB\u2019s international signing day, at the organization\u2019s Felipe Alou Baseball Academy in the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n

The Giants handed Hern\u00e1ndez a $5 million bonus, because he\u2019s no ordinary shortstop. He was widely considered the top prospect in Latin America, highly mature and athletic for his age, and his bonus was the biggest distributed by any of the 30 teams on the first day of the international signing period.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the second straight year the Giants snagged the top prospect from Latin America. Josuar Gonzalez was No. 1 in 2025 and signed for nearly $3 million. Like Hern\u00e1ndez, Gonzalez plays shortstop.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if we can make this a habit \u2014 it\u2019s a tough market, but we\u2019re going to try,\u201d said an elated Joe Salermo, the Giants\u2019 senior director of international scouting, whose staff invests years in acquiring Latin American talent: Gonzalez was 13 when the Giants first spotted him, and Hern\u00e1ndez was 12. \u201cWe\u2019re having meetings as we speak to set up the board for 2027, and hopefully we can surprise you next year with some top talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the large bonuses, patience is key for these prospects. Hern\u00e1ndez is the age of a high school junior, and it wouldn\u2019t be surprising if the Giants place him in the Dominican Summer League when the 2026 season opens. That\u2019s where Gonzalez played in 2025.<\/p>\n

But Salermo is dreaming of the two playing together stateside soon. The final call is up to Buster Posey and Zack Minasian and their player development staff, including Randy Winn and Kyle Haines.<\/p>\n

1 day ago<\/p>\n

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3 days ago<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

5 days ago<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that he goes the nontraditional way and goes right to the USA,\u201d Salermo said of Hern\u00e1ndez. \u201cIt would be an exciting time, a fun time, to see Josuar and Hern\u00e1ndez on the same field \u2014 one playing second, one playing short, another day flip-flopping.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shortstop also is Gavin Kilen\u2019s position. He was the Giants\u2019 top draft choice in July, the 13th overall pick after playing for Tony Vitello at Tennessee. Jhonny Level, the prize of the Giants\u2019 2024 international class, also is a shortstop.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number of shortstops from A ball down, it\u2019ll probably be hard for any team to match what we have,\u201d said Haines, the Giants\u2019 senior director of player development, who attended Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s signing. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to be one of the strongest groups, if not the strongest, in baseball right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AGavin Kilen was the Giants\u2019 first-round draft pick out of the University of Tennessee in 2025. | Source: Wade Payne\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

The trick is where to play everyone. Gonzalez spent last season in the Dominican Summer League, playing 46 games at shortstop. Level played 25 games at short at San Jose after getting promoted from the Arizona Complex League. Kilen opened his career at San Jose late in the season and played six games at short and three at second.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also Maui Ahuna (fourth round, 2023 draft), another product of Vitello\u2019s Tennessee program, who also played short at San Jose, 31 games. Walker Martin (second round, 2023) played the most games at short in San Jose, 41, and 50 more at third base.<\/p>\n

Other shortstops in the lower levels are Lorenzo Meola (fourth round, 2025) and Zane Zielinski (ninth round, 2024), who was at High A Eugene last year and probably is the most advanced defensively in the bunch, though his glove is way ahead of his bat.<\/p>\n

The Giants have plenty of depth at the position and, therefore, plenty of trade chips when it comes to improving the big-league roster.<\/p>\n

Asked about the young Latino shortstops in particular, Salermo said, \u201cSome believe Level can stay at shortstop, and some say he might not, but I think everyone believes 100% that Josuar and Hern\u00e1ndez can stay at short.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are only so many shortstop jobs, and it\u2019s not like everyone\u2019s immediately getting bumped to Double-A Richmond or Triple-A Sacramento. All will play shortstop in 2026, but all are expected to play at least one other position as well to increase their versatility and value and improve their chances of climbing the minor-league ladder.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good problem to have,\u201d Haines said. \u201cYou never want the problem of not having enough good shortstops. It raises the bar and the competition, instead of telling someone, \u2018You\u2019re the shortstop\u2019 and having no one challenging. If we\u2019re going to win [in the big leagues], we\u2019re going to win with pitching and defense, and defense starts with the catcher and shortstop. It\u2019s hard to win without a plus catcher and plus shortstop. Then you go into center field as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Giants aren\u2019t as deep at shortstop at the upper levels, but that\u2019s OK. They\u2019ve got a guy in the big leagues playing the position who\u2019s signed through 2031: Willy Adames.<\/p>\n

The Giants\u2019 international bonus pool was relatively tiny, $5.44 million, after $1 million was forfeited as a result of the Adames signing, based on the fact that he rejected a qualifying offer. All but $400,000 went to Hern\u00e1ndez, a 5-foot-9, 175-pounder who played 104 games in an advanced Venezuelan league (Liga Mayor de B\u00e9isbol Profesional) and hit .346 with a .386 on-base percentage and .452 slugging percentage.<\/p>\n

The Giants announced the signing of two other prospects: Mexican pitcher Alexis Gallego and Venezuelan center fielder Angelo Ugueto.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s nothing new for the Giants to stockpile shortstops. It was typical of Brian Sabean during his run as baseball operations chief. For instance, beyond drafting Brandon Crawford, he drafted shortstops Joe Panik and Matt Duffy, both of whom switched positions by the time they reached the majors. Posey himself played shortstop in college.<\/p>\n

That all worked out quite well.<\/p>\n

\u201cA good shortstop gives you the best combination of athletic ability, arm strength, footwork, and, when combining the total package, you can\u2019t have a weakness, because that gets exposed,\u201d Haines said. \u201cThe distance of throws, angle of throws, quickness needed, and range \u2014 all the demands of the position \u2014 you can\u2019t have a weakness. At second base, if you\u2019re a little short on arm, you won\u2019t get exposed. At third base, if you\u2019re a little short on range, you won\u2019t get exposed. But at shortstop, with those weaknesses, you\u2019re hurting the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Giants, thanks to a stunning lottery win, will select fourth overall in next summer\u2019s draft. Among the most highly touted draft-eligible players are UCLA\u2019s Roch Cholowsky, Alabama\u2019s Justin Lebron, and high schoolers Grady Emerson, Jacob Lombard, and Tyler Spangler, the latter out of De La Salle in Concord.<\/p>\n

All are shortstops.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[10875,101,4820,103,102,104,106,105,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-135402","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-buster-posey","9":"tag-san-francisco","10":"tag-san-francisco-giants","11":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","12":"tag-san-francisco-news","13":"tag-sf","14":"tag-sf-headlines","15":"tag-sf-news","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}